Baby bear, wolf cub become lifelong friends

An adorable viral video of a wolf cub and bear cub playing is only the beginning of a beautiful interspecies friendship.

There's not much cuter than a baby bear and a wolf cub wrestling. (Photo: denmortube/flickr)

Meet Lil' Bear and Tala, a 5-month-old grizzly bear cub and 5-month-old wolf cub who spent several months together at Pennsylvania's Woodland Zoo in 2006.

Tala was born at the zoo, which closed in 2009 due to financial difficulties, and Lil' Bear was born at another zoo.

Lil' Bear's forever home was to be with an animal trainer for the movies; however, the trainer wasn't able to take the cub yet so she moved into the Woodland Zoo. There, she met Tala and the two quickly bonded.

Dennis Crossland, a former volunteer at the zoo, helped "babysit" the playful cubs for several months and filmed this footage of the two romping and wrestling in the zoo gift shop.

When it came time for Lil' Bear to leave the zoo, the animal trainer realized he couldn’t separate the grizzly cub from Tala so he adopted them both.

According to comments Crossland's made on his video, Lil’ Bear (who's not so little anymore) and Tala remain together today.

"They're still alive and well," he writes. "Although I don't see them anymore as they live far away from me but I get occasional reports on them."

Although Lil' Bear and Tala’s interspecies friendship is incredible, it's certainly not the first of its kind.

The three furry friends were found living together as cubs during a police raid on an Atlanta drug baron's home.

Recently, a real-life fox and hound were discovered playing together in a Norwegian forest and now the unlikely friends have inspired a children's book that is raising awareness about how to protect foxes and other animals from the fur industry.